Which wars were not initiated by religious differences? Any?

Question

WOW! I stand rebuked. Obviously I need to re-read my history books.

Answer 1

In response to some answers you've recieved already:

1. The Revolutionary War was a war of religion - the Brits in what was to become America were attempting to break from the Church of England, run by the King. They did not believe royalty should run the Protestant Church. Many ministers helped the Continentals form America. This split the Quaker ministry from the rest because they were traditionally pacifist. The entire Revolutionary War was originally founded upon religion.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel03.html

2. The Civil War had the issue of slavery as its underlying cause - "and debate over slavery was almost always couched in religious language. Religion, especially of the Protestant variety, was an important factor in antebellum culture. The Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century in particular greatly impacted American society. This renewed interest in matters of faith led northerners to embrace a view of Christian perfection for individuals, a theology which in turn was applied to society in an effort to eradicate social ills. Southerners, on the other hand, reacted to the revivals by assuming a faith of personal piety which focused on a literal reading of the Bible, but expressed little concern for addressing society’s problems. Historians are increasingly identifying these differing approaches to religious faith, and the actions resulting from these views, as playing a foundational role in the Civil War." http://www.brucegourley.com/civilwar/gourleyhistor1.htm

3. The Vietnam War was essentially a war between Catholics & Buddhists. America chose a side based upon who they believed was 'more' communist. President Diem of South Vietnam believed that all Buddhists were communists who should be executed, even though he often treated his country as a dictatorship. Approx. 52,000 Southern Vietnamese fled North from his rule. "Surprisingly, Diem was successful, gaining from his surprised American sponsors the sobriquet of "the Winston Churchill of Asia." Later in the year (1956) Diem organized an election for president and a legislature, and wrote a constitution, yet did not allow a General Election in South Vietnam. In the election (which he might have won legally) Diem received 98.2 percent of the vote, raising the eyebrows of even his American supporters." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War
Yet, the American gov't supported him because he proclaimed himself "anti-communist". The south Vietnamese eventually had him executed. Everyone in this war engaged in horrific warfare; the U.S. used Agent Orange, the S.V. tortured other members of its republic - In an effort to discover information about the NLF, the peasants were sometimes tortured. If evidence was found of the NLF being in the village, the people were punished. As William Ehrhart, a US marine explained:"... they'd be beaten pretty badly, maybe tortured. Or they might be hauled off to jail, and God knows what happened to them. At the end of the day, the villagers would be turned loose. Their homes had been wrecked, their chickens killed, their rice confiscated - and if they weren't pro-Vietcong before we got there, they sure as hell were by the time we left." The Viet Cong utilized deadly booby traps. Everyone engaged in guerilla warfare. Perhaps this war was the least 'religious', but rather than introducing democracy it fought the perceived communism, and failed to recognize the authoritarian attempts of all sides.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/peoplescentury/episodes/guerrillawars/hackworthtranscript.html
We could only say the Vietnam War was not in some way religious if it hadn't begun before we arrived. There were many factors to the war, and religion is one of them.

Without going on forever, every single war in the world had something to do with religion. Religion will be found in every war as a cause for initiating that war or continuing it. Every war mentioned in response to this question had religious elements. The only time warring parties were not of different religious backgrounds, they were warring against one another.

Don't stand rebuked yet, Warp.

Answer 2

Most modern wars were not initiated by religious differences, although there were differences of religion. I believe the last war fought over because of religious differences happened during the crusades, or maybe the 100 years war, or even in England when Oliver Cromwell fought against the King (or Queen).
None of the modern wars were started (initiated) over religious differences, but were caused by economic policies, or outright land grabs.
Good question though. Keep up the good work!

Answer 3

The Seven Years' War, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, the Revolutions in the Americas, the Boer War, the Irish Revolution, the American Civil War, the Crimean War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the Spanish Civil War, Stalin's invasions of Finland, the Baltic states, and Poland, World War II, the Chinese Revolution, the Cold War, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge Revolution, etc...

Answer 4

Actually, no wars were caused by religious differences alone. All wars includ economic, territorial, and political interests. In other words, there are no wars fought with the only interest in being converting or destrying a group of religious believers. There is always larger interests. Our present war is not religious, despite what Islamic extremists and American Liberal say. It is about our dependence on foreign oil.

Answer 5

Yes, but most of them were.

An example would be the Civil War. It was started by the way the North kept trying to oppress the rights of the South. The South tried to separate, which was in their constitutional rights- the North pulled an illegal move,- and thus a war was started.

But there were many wars that either were directly initiated by religion, or religion played a role in.

Answer 6

The American Revolution, American Civil War, Spanish-American War, Vietnam War, Korean War just to name a few

Answer 7

Likely the family wars between the Hatfields and McCoys. Wasn't that just started over some sort of general disagreement of some sort?

Answer 8

The War of 1812.

Answer 9

The war against the Nazi's was not a war regarding religion and neither was the Vietnam war..

Answer 10

The war of Jenkins ear was the most foolish war ever; it was fought because a Spainard cut off the ear of an Englishman...LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1st world war
Second world war
Desert storm
Custer and the Indian wars
so many wars!
And how do you call the war in which the Russian communist atheists killed all the poor people of Russia?????
Communist atheists killed more people than hitler.